Archive for the ‘Emmy award’ Category

Not only did she avoid mentioning the Saudi (Arab) lobby, which is by far the most powerful lobby in America, but she also chose to solicit the opinions of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (himself a lobbyist for Arab causes), as well as professor Mearsheimer, both known for their controversial anti-Israel positions. Stunningly, no expert contradictory opinion to these two was offered during the six-hour program. It would have been just as easy for Amanpour to pose the same questions to Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz or Professor Fouad Ajami.

Is there an Emmy Award for Biggest Disappointment?If so, I nominate CNN’s three-part series, “God’s Warriors,” hosted or read or fronted — but certainly not reported – by Christiane Amanpour. The investigation – their claim – into radicals of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim persuasion was CNN’s highest-rated documentary ever, which just goes to show: Scratch any responsible news organization deep enough and you’ll find a shallow, sensationalizing ratings whore.The big reveal of the program was this: There are extremists out there ready to blow us up or hijack our elections.There was no analysis: not what these extremists have in common, not how they’ve risen and fallen throughout history; not how moderates can effectively counteract them, not even the relative numbers of extremists within each religion. Just this: they exist – as if we had never heard of Jerry Falwell and weren’t watching TV on Sept. 11.

As for Amanpour’s segment on God’s Jewish “warriors,” it managed to be both insidious and laughable. She rightly mentioned Jewish extremists like Baruch Goldstein, the doctor who slaughtered Muslims in prayer in Hebron, but failed to note that while the Israeli government and the vast majority of Jews take pains to prosecute and condemn their extremists, Muslim nations fund or sanction theirs.

Amanpour then focused on Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza who claim God deeded that land to the Jewish people and oppose giving up their homes under any circumstances. She failed to point out that it is indeed the Israeli government these people are fighting – theirs is not some global campaign to force Jewish law upon the West…